NetworK ezine Issue 109. June 2024
Totally Devoted to Carnival Glass
Welcome to the June edition of Carnival Glass NetworK. This one will be “NetworK Light” owing to personal issues. We hope to be back to full strength for the July edition.
We are taking this opportunity to look at Imperial in promotions, journals and advertising, from the early years right up to the introduction of their Revival Carnival. It’s fascinating archive information and we hope you will enjoy it all. Carnival Glass was a popular inducement that was used to generate sales at the furniture stores, back in 1912. The ad below (left) shows a magnificent Imperial Lustre Rose (OMN American Beauty Rose) footed berry bowl that was offered for just five cents (described as “practically a ‘give-away’ price”) to the shoppers at the Hub Furniture Company in Washington. Lustre Rose bowls were chosen as the “Special Opening Souvenir” for the Hub’s grand opening, and customers were advised to go to the third floor to get theirs. Looks like they were popular! Clearly, they ran out of stocks on their opening day and they had to get hold of more supplies—hence the above ad for “Those Who Were Not Supplied Saturday”.
We are taking this opportunity to look at Imperial in promotions, journals and advertising, from the early years right up to the introduction of their Revival Carnival. It’s fascinating archive information and we hope you will enjoy it all. Carnival Glass was a popular inducement that was used to generate sales at the furniture stores, back in 1912. The ad below (left) shows a magnificent Imperial Lustre Rose (OMN American Beauty Rose) footed berry bowl that was offered for just five cents (described as “practically a ‘give-away’ price”) to the shoppers at the Hub Furniture Company in Washington. Lustre Rose bowls were chosen as the “Special Opening Souvenir” for the Hub’s grand opening, and customers were advised to go to the third floor to get theirs. Looks like they were popular! Clearly, they ran out of stocks on their opening day and they had to get hold of more supplies—hence the above ad for “Those Who Were Not Supplied Saturday”.
An “opening week” bargain at the Hub Furniture Co., Washington.
“Washington Times”, 1912. |
Above: Imperial’s Lustre Rose or Imperial Rose footed bowl (OMN American Beauties or Beauty Rose). Courtesy Burns Auctions.
|
|
Note how the above ad described the bowl as “Frosted Ruby-Gold”. Obviously, they meant iridised, not frosted as we understand it today. Imperial themselves called the colour Rubigold (not “Ruby-Gold”) – and we know it, of course, as marigold. Imperial’s own 1912 catalogue set out the four iridescent colours they were promoting at that time – as shown below. Note, these were their early colours – they would be expanded upon in subsequent years. Rubigold – “This iridescent color is on a crystal body with the colors red and gold predominating, though there are tints of all the other colors of the rainbow in this ware.” Rubigold is what we know as marigold. Azur - “This is a purple or amethyst colored glass with iridescent effects of red and green and blue and even yellow creating color combinations of great beauty. This glass is darker than any other iridescent wares made by us and of a very striking appearance." Helios - “This is a beautiful green glass with silver iridescent tints. The surface effect is that of metallic silver, with here and there a shade of green gleaming through the silver. In some pieces reddish tints mingle with the white silver colors.” Old Gold - “This is our latest color of iridescent glass. No other factory has been, so far, able to reproduce it. It is a real amber glass with a deep rich gold covering, which sometimes has beautiful warm red tints.” In a fully illustrated three page website feature, we look at the types of sales outlets around the World where Carnival Glass was offered in the early days. There are 3 sections to our "Sell Me Some Carnival Glass" links as below:
Drug Stores and Ironmongers Furniture Stores, General Stores and Grocery Stores Drapery Stores, Five & Ten Cents Stores, and China and Glassware Stores |
|
|
Cox & Lafferty Imperial used various ways of promoting their Carnival Glass, including adverts in the trade press. In late 1910 - 1911, they used their New York Representative - Cox & Lafferty - to run a series of full page ads. The selections being advertised had a wide range of patterns, shapes and colours, which were made up and sent out directly from Imperial's factory. This series of ads gives an interesting insight into the patterns, colours and shapes that Imperial felt had the greatest popular appeal for the buying public of the time. We have a whole series of these wonderful ads, all in full detail, here: Cox & Lafferty |
|
|
What a Pickle.
The American Flint Glass Workers Union was founded in 1878 to represent workers in the glass tableware and associated industries. This entry on the right was in their journal (“The American Flint” Journal) in 1911, and it intrigued us, as it referred to "Imperial - No. 478 Pickle". So, what was the story, and what was the item? The issue was that the workers were asking for more money for the extra work of crimping (ruffling) items - work that was carried out by hand by the "finishers", after the item had been removed from the mould. The $2.00 referenced would have been for a “turn” (a shift or period of work) and not for each item. |
|
|
It took us a while to track down item No, 478. The immediate thought was "Pansy" as the pickle dish shape in this Imperial pattern came most readily to mind. So we looked to find examples of the Pansy pickle dish in Imperial catalogues around this date. Imperial’s 1912 catalogue (right) showed a Pansy dish in both oval and crimped/ruffled shapes. All four iridescent colours were listed and each had its own different stock number for ordering, but no pattern number was given. We had to search further. Eventually we found it in Imperial’s catalogue 193B c. 1917 - below, right. The Pansy pickle/dish is shown here with the number prefix 478. The item shown as 478B was not crimped, while 478C was crimped. Interestingly, 478B is packed 12 dozen to a barrel, and 478C is only 9 dozen to a barrel - presumably, the uncrimped ones stacked more readily for packing than the ones that were crimped. Just one small snippet in a 1911 Union Journal led us on this search, and a little insight into life in the glassworks back then. |
Above: extract from Imperial’s 1912 catalogue, and below: extract from Imperial’s 103B c 1917, catalogue.
Both courtesy Glass Paper Fanatics. 
|
|
|
Above left, a clambroth Pansy relish (487B, uncrimped), and right, The an amber Pansy pickle dish (478C, crimped) - Imperial called this colour "Old Gold".
There are more ads and images about the labour and the practices employed in the glass factories when wonderful and beautiful Carnival Glass was being made, here: Glassworkers Wanted!
There are more ads and images about the labour and the practices employed in the glass factories when wonderful and beautiful Carnival Glass was being made, here: Glassworkers Wanted!
|
Imperial Loved a Bargain Offer.
In Imperial’s 1924 catalogue they were offering Special Lots – a typical Imperial sales promotional device - shown on the right. The lots in this offering were a full barrel and as you can see by the text in the ad, each barrel lot contained 60 marigold Carnival bowls. And the price? $1.65 per dozen (12 items), with 5 dozen in total. 
Pricing for Special Lot 103: extract from Imperial’s Second Bargain Book Price List 1924. Courtesy Glass Paper Fanatics.
Now, as many of us have realised, "bargains" are not always what they seem to be! However, in this case it would seem that the offer really was a good priced deal. The ad below was in the April 1923 Butler Brothers wholesale catalogue, and it offered what was surely the same assortment of five pieces - it referred to "5 styles", although only two were illustrated - and the wholesale price was $2.25 per dozen, almost 37% more than the offer from Imperial. That's definitely an example of "cutting out the middleman"! 
Above: extract from Butler Brothers wholesale catalogue 1923.
Right: a marigold Double Dutch bowl - $1.65 for 12 anyone! Readers may spot what, at first sight - seems to be a mistake! Look at the Imperial "Special Lot" illustration of the Double Dutch bowl, bottom left on the ad, and compare it with the actual Double Dutch design on the bowl shown here on the right. There is no doubt that they are different, but also somehow the same. In fact, the artist's design in the ad is revered horizontally: the leafless tree on the left of the ad's design is on the right of the actual bowl. Similarly, the row of trees on the right of the ad's design is on the left of the actual bowl. This design inversion is repeated in many of Imperial's line drawings; it's particularly noticeable on the Double Dutch design. |
|
|
The Revival.
The Carnival Revival was spearheaded by Imperial. Shown here on the right are what we believe were the very first items to be featured in Revival Carnival. The pattern was, of course, Imperial Grape - truly a "revival" pattern in that it is a pattern that Imperial had used extensively in the Classic Carnival era. When these two goblets were introduced, there was no fanfare, no big promotional launch - they were simply shown in Imperial’s Catalog 62 (1962) and were the only two pieces in that entire catalogue to be depicted in Carnival. Note the names of the iridised colours – “Rubigold” and “Peacock Blue” – collectors now call them marigold and smoke. “Peacock Blue” would soon be shortened by Imperial to simply “Peacock” and as Imperial realised the “new” Carnival was very popular, their range widened tremendously. |
Above: eExtract from Imperial Catalog #62. Courtesy Glass Paper Fanatics.
|
A few years later Imperial produced an entire pamphlet devoted to Carnival - it featured over seventy different items on four pages. Shown below is just a small extract. Courtesy of Glass Paper Fanatics, we have put all 4 pages of this very important pamphlet on our website. Click on the extract below, or follow the link at the end of this section. What is particularly fascinating about the pamphlet is the choices that Imperial made to promote their newly introduced range of Revival Carnival Glass. Many of the pieces are from Imperial's Classic Carnival era; Loganberry vase, Imperial Grape (various shapes), Windmill pitcher, Scroll and Flower Panels vase, Homestead plate, and the Pansy pickle dish we explored earlier.
A few years later Imperial produced an entire pamphlet devoted to Carnival - it featured over seventy different items on four pages. Shown below is just a small extract. Courtesy of Glass Paper Fanatics, we have put all 4 pages of this very important pamphlet on our website. Click on the extract below, or follow the link at the end of this section. What is particularly fascinating about the pamphlet is the choices that Imperial made to promote their newly introduced range of Revival Carnival Glass. Many of the pieces are from Imperial's Classic Carnival era; Loganberry vase, Imperial Grape (various shapes), Windmill pitcher, Scroll and Flower Panels vase, Homestead plate, and the Pansy pickle dish we explored earlier.
|
There were also some newcomers - although interestingly, Imperial chose to use their old patterns and to make them in new shapes, Imperial Grape being a good example. On the left is an Imperial Grape salt and pepper set in marigold. They have the Revival " IG " mark on the base, and below is the mould (*) that was used to make them.
|
* The mould was subsequently acquired by Fenton when Imperial closed. The mould picture is courtesy of the Fenton Family and Fenton Art Glass Co.
Here are two links to explore the pamphlet (full size / full detail) and all our other Imperial Revival catalogues on our website:
Imperial's 4-page pamphlet: Imperial Revival late 1960s
Imperial Revival Catalogues: Imperial Revival Homepage
Here are two links to explore the pamphlet (full size / full detail) and all our other Imperial Revival catalogues on our website:
Imperial's 4-page pamphlet: Imperial Revival late 1960s
Imperial Revival Catalogues: Imperial Revival Homepage
|
Fenton and Verlys Regular readers of our NetworK ezine will have seen several articles where we explore how Fenton used some amazingly designed moulds that they had acquired from Verlys / Holophane. For all those new to NetworK (or for anyone who would just like to see all these wonderful pieces together), we have curated the articles into one place on our website, and added more information. Seeing all these pieces together shows just how the combination of stunning Verlys designs and Fenton's fantastic glassmaking expertise produced some truly beautiful pieces of Carnival.
Click on the image (right) or on this link: Fenton and Verlys |
|
Privacy and the use of your information: we only use your name and email address to send you your Carnival Glass NetworK ezine. We will not share your name or email address with anyone else, or use it for any other purpose. You can change your mind about receiving your NetworK ezine at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link at the foot of every issue, or by emailing us at [email protected]
Join us on Facebook
We invite you and your friends to join us all on NetworK's fast growing and very active Facebook Group (link is below), and if you have missed any of the previous issues of NetworK and NetworK Specials, they are all here: Back Issues.
We invite you and your friends to join us all on NetworK's fast growing and very active Facebook Group (link is below), and if you have missed any of the previous issues of NetworK and NetworK Specials, they are all here: Back Issues.
